By Ayesha Saba

The National Highway Authority (NHA) requires Rs12.41 billion to improve and reconstruct the 495km Jamshoro-Kashmore section of the N-55 corridor, even as dualization work continues with 128 kilometers already opened to traffic and another 207 kilometers being built through multiple financing arrangements.

According to the official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the Jamshoro-Kashmore corridor forms part of the 990-kilometre N-55 network in the NHA's South Zone. It comprises the 281km Jamshoro-Wagan section and the 214km Wagan-Kashmore section.

The 128 kilometres of the corridor have been completed and opened to traffic, while work on another 207 kilometres is under way through projects financed by international development partners.

The Petaro-Sehwan section (0-128km) has been dualized and opened to traffic. The Sehwan-Ratodero section (128-335km) has also been dualized with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Ratodero-Shikarpur section (335-379km), financed under the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) CAREC Tranche-I program, has been substantially completed. Construction is continuing on the Shikarpur-Kashmore section (379-495km), including the Kashmore Bypass, under CAREC Tranche-II with ADB funding.

According to the documents, the existing carriageway along the entire Jamshoro-Kashmore route is being maintained through highway safety and maintenance contracts.

A road-condition assessment covering 990 lane-kilometres found that 380 lane-kilometres, or 38.38%, were in good condition, while 253 lane-kilometres (25.55%) were rated fair and 357 lane-kilometres (36.06%) were classified as poor. Based on the assessment, the NHA estimated that Rs12.41 billion would be required to improve and reconstruct the corridor.

The 281km Jamshoro-Wagan section comprises 562 lane-kilometres. Of these, 324 lane-kilometres were rated good, 184 fair and 54 poor. The estimated funding requirement for improvement and reconstruction of the section was Rs1.645 billion.

The 214km Wagan-Kashmore section accounts for 428 lane-kilometres. Only 56 lane-kilometres were rated good, while 69 were classified as fair and 303 as poor. The estimated funding requirement for improving and reconstructing the section was Rs10.765 billion, accounting for the largest share of the corridor's overall requirement.

Credit: INP-WealthPk